Recap: After winning their first series of the season, the Chicago Cubs were unable to complete the series sweep, of the arch rival St. Louis Cardinals, with a 5-1 loss Wednesday afternoon. Cubs starting pitcher Chris Volstad (0-3) had a solid six innings of work giving up six hits, three earned runs, four strike outs, but imploded in his final inning where he gave up his three earned runs. Combine that with the lack of offense by Chicago’s hitters, the game began to slip away from the Cubs. Cardinals third baseman David Freese highlighted the three run sixth inning with a two-run shot. Bryan Lahair posted the Cubs only run which was a solo homerun giving him four for the year.

Impact of loss: The Cubs were unable to sweep the Cardinals at Wrigley. This would have been the first home sweep of the Cardinals since 2006. The North Siders fall to 5-8 at home and 6-13 overall this season, and remain in last place in the National League Central Standings. Also with this loss, starting pitcher Chris Volstad is now 0-3 and hasn’t won since July 10th of last year. Although Alfonso Soriano hit the walk off single in game two, he along with Ian Stewart need to be more productive at the plate. Soriano is currently batting .232 with no homeruns and 10 RBIs. Stewart has been struggling, as he has an abysmal average of .175, one homerun, and six RBIs with only one hit in his last 17 home plate appearances.

Team Notes: First baseman Bryan Lahair’s homerun on Wednesday added to the Cubs league low seven homeruns this season. Three out of Lahair’s four homeruns have come against the Cardinals. One of which was a grand slam on April 13 resulting in a Cubs victory in St. Louis’ home opener. Pitcher Chris Volstad is 0-8 and has not won in his last 15 starts dating back to last years All-Star game. During these starts he gets an average of slightly more than three runs per start. The mark ranks seventh fewest in the National League during that time. Cubs Reliever Kerry Wood pitched in the bullpen on Tuesday, and is scheduled to come of the 15-day disabled list on April 29, but manager Dale Sveum has not set a date for Wood to return to action. Wood went on the DL with fatigue in his pitching shoulder.

Looking Ahead: The Cubs have a seven game road trip beginning on Friday night. The trip starts with four games against the Philadelphia Phillies and ends with a three game stint with the Cincinnati Reds. Friday’s game against Philadelphia will feature Cubs pitcher Paul Maholm who is 1-2 with an 8.36 ERA and Phillies ace Roy Halladay who is 3-1 with a 1.50 ERA.

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Written by Brandyn Smith
My name is Brandyn Smith. I am 23 years old. I graduated with a Finance degree from Providence College in 2011. I am a freelance writer pursuing a career in Sports Administration. I love sports and I’m here to share my sports knowledge with everyone. Currently I am studying Organizational Behavior at Northwestern University.